


Actions Speak the Truth

by PretendingToBeReal (FoggedReality)



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Assassination, Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Changed the title again because I'm indecisive, Emotionally unstable, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, How Do I Tag, Hurt No Comfort, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I hate myself for this, Major Character Injury, Medical Trauma, Minor Game Spoilers, Worry, Worst Ending, anger issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:36:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23030293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoggedReality/pseuds/PretendingToBeReal
Summary: Because people are not always kind, don't always make the right choices, and listen to their biases instead of their hearts and minds.Rewrites/rework in progress.A few end-game/post-game spoilers for a Board-oriented playthrough, but mostly vague references.
Kudos: 7





	1. Betrayal

*pop*

That’s all the Captain heard… just the pop… with an accompanying bright flash of a firecracker, maybe a little too close to his face. 

*pop*

The world spun around in a harsh blur but also at a ridiculously slow pace. He recognized that purplish haze as time actually slowing for him, so everything crept by at a snail’s pace. The weird thing was, so was he. Normally, there was more control over it than this. What was stranger was watching Ellie’s face change from confusion to… was that panic? Nah… not his Ellie. She was a bastion of casual control, even in the middle of battle. He couldn’t see Max… he must have been that blue blur off to the side. He finished his 360 and finally saw Felix standing on the ship’s gangplank, just outside the open entryway. 

*pop*

The spinning stopped and he found himself looking straight at the sky. 

Pteros were flying lazily across his field of view, calling to each other, sun streaming through the clouds and glinting off their shiny hides. Their screams were almost human-like, and he could imagine he heard words forming between them. It was an odd conversation they were having, something about “… running,” and “…got him,” and “…no, leave it,” and over it all, strange repeated, multi-toned noises that sounded awfully similar to “Captain! Captain!!” 

Ellie’s face suddenly blocked his view, and he found himself annoyed with her, brow furrowing as he started to tell her to move the hell out of his way because he wanted to know what the birds were yelling about. But his breath caught in his throat, and he coughed instead. It was a wet, ugly sound, and with it, time suddenly slammed back into its normal speed with a hard smack of pain blossoming from what felt like everywhere. 

Ellie was leaning on him, hands pressed together, the full weight of her behind the pressure against his chest. She was mouthing something at him, but it was echoing and far away. He tried to tell her to move and help him up, but that ragged cough was all that came out, along with a splatter of blood that appeared on her cheek and splashed over her lips. How odd… and why was it so hard to catch his breath? He just needed to take a big, deep breath and get up off the Law-damned ground. How the hell did he end up on the ground anyway? 

“Stay with me, Captain!” Ellie glanced quickly over her shoulder, and screamed, “Max! Help me!” 

“I’m right the hell here,” is what the Captain wanted to say, but couldn’t quite form the words. He tried to get up, but nothing wanted to work right. He really wanted to just take a quick nap, starting to drift… and finally his brain caught up from the unexpected time dilation, replaying the last few minutes.. seconds… hours? 

_Max and Nyoka had been with him, limping back to the ship after a long day of primal-hunting, chatting about some nonsense or other... it was useless, letting-off-steam, post-combat chatter. It meant nothing and would be forgotten as soon as they moved on to the next small-talk topic. Max strolled along with his staff casually slung over his shoulder, blood and primal viscera splattered across the legs of his armor. Nyoka was nattering on about some bloke who had named his rifle, equally as bloodstained and just as blasé about it. Ellie was waiting for them on the landing pad, arms crossed, waiting to assess their inevitable injuries and giving them her usual why-do-I-even-bother expression._

_The Unreliable yawned open as they approached, welcoming door sliding open with a quiet hiss as soon as the Captain’s foot touched the gangplank. Felix stood in the entrance, scowling down at them… probably still irritated he wasn’t asked to go along on the hunt._

_But it was wrong… something in Felix’s posture was wrong, and he noticed it far too late to react. Felix’s boyish face not just scowling, but grim and angry, lips setting in a hard line as the kid raised the bolter pistol and fired._

_*pop*_

_One step backwards down the gangplank in surprise._

_*pop*_

_Spinning with the force of the shot and the twist of an off-balance step._

_*pop*_

_Falling._

Falling… 

“Captain! Stay with us!” Ellie shouted it in his face again, then quieter, pleading, “…please. Don’t die on us, Bishop.” He’d been drifting, mind wandering away from him, but this was the here and now, not the ‘then’ he was remembering. He could tell from the look in Ellie’s eyes that this was bad. Worse, because she never, never used his real name when she spoke to him.

Falling…

He tried to nod, tried to speak, tried to acknowledge it in some way… but she was getting further away. He saw another shadow fall over him and was dimly aware of an adreno needle being pushed into his neck. 

Falling...

“We’ve got him, Ellie, let’s go. Hurry!”

Falling…

“Careful! There on the table!”

Falling…

“You’re going to do surgery where we eat?” 

Falling…

“Would you rather I do this on the floor so we don’t insult your delicate sensibilities? He’s going to bleed out in your arms, so just fucking do it!”

Falling… 

The table, if that’s where he was now, was too hard.

Falling…

The light shining straight into his eyes from the overhead was too bright.

Falling…

There was too much yelling.

Falling…

Too many armored footsteps thundering across the metal floor.

Falling…

Too cold...

Fallen.


	2. A Long Time Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix is a hot-head, and the Captain starts to realize how big a mistake he's made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to keep it as generic as possible, but minor spoilers for the Board-centric playthrough.

He was aware, dimly, slowly, of a quiet argument going on nearby. Just pieces at first, a few words here and there, but it coalesced into more as he drifted upwards toward bright lights and fuzzy consciousness. His mouth felt like cotton and tasted like he'd been chewing on foil. 

“…a big place.”

“…he’s a survivor.”

“A survivor, not a survivalist.”

“Is there a difference?”

“In the wilds, you damn well better believe there’s a difference.”

“He can’t go that far.”

“It’s been four days and Terra 2 is a big planet, Max. If he joined up with the marauders...”

He was aware that he wasn’t on the Unreliable. It was too bright, too soft, and not nearly noisy enough. If his crew hadn't been nearby, having their yelling-but-still-whispering discussion, he might be worried about where he actually was. _Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Whichever alien afterlife was actually going to turn out to be true?_ Slowly, he raised an arm, or tried to. It was firmly attached to…something cold...a metal bar? And it was full of needles and tubes. _Ouch. Law, but he hated needles._ Fighting down a wave of nausea and a shudder of revulsion, he focused away from the gigantic metal tube stuck in his flesh, finally seeing the cloth restraint tying his arm down so he didn't accidentally _(on purpose)_ pull it out and do himself more harm.

His gaze drifted upward, tracing the lines to the multi-toned bottles hanging on a nearby feed. That wasn’t good, either… but it did explain the floaty, disconnected feeling and why he wasn’t currently in a hellscape of agony. He must have made some kind of noise... a moan or groan or grunt... because instantly the conversation stopped and all eyes were on him. 

“Captain!” It was Parvati’s voice that rose this time, a mixture of surprise, excitement, and relief. She was at his bedside immediately. “We were startin’ to wonder. You gave us all an awful scare.”

He blinked slowly, wanting to give her a reassuring smile, but he wasn’t sure if he could muster the energy.

“Wh…” The words he wanted to say came out in a gruff croak and a rough cough. Ellie was there a moment later, pressing a bottle of water carefully to his dry lips. He swallowed it down gratefully, cleared his throat and tried again.

“Where?”

Ellie gave him a smile that was distinctly unhappy and told him more than words. “Byzantium Medical. Apparently you have some serious cred after doing those jobs for Akande and the Board. They hooked you up with the good stuff.” She gestured vaguely to the IV drips. “But…” Now her grim smile turned into a prideful smirk. “I still have some pull… got you a private room and everything.”

Nyoka’s unimpressed snort came from another corner of the room.

“Saved your life, and that’s what she focuses on. Getting you a private room. Go, Ellie!” she scoffed, sarcasm fairly dripping from every word, arms crossing as she leaned against the wall.

“Hey! I’d like to see you try getting through the paperwork!"

“Can everyone just shut up for a minute? Please?” It was truly starting to make his head ache, and with all the chems running through his system, that shouldn’t have been possible. “Just… what’s happened since…?” He didn’t finish the sentence, didn’t figure he had to.

Everyone started talking at once.

"...ran like crazy..."

"...got a mean right hook."

"Been tracking him since..."

"Akande is soooo pissed..."

"...then the Board put out a bounty, and..."

__________

_**Two weeks before:** _

_The team had been standing in Akande’s office when she dropped the biggest bombshell of all on them. The Chairman’s Early Retirement program had been unpleasant enough, but this… this was a doozy._

_Bishop had made a serious mistake in bringing Felix along, but he’d really wanted to show the kid that the Board wasn’t just some evil boogieman. He’d been wrong… so, so very wrong. It took Max’s help to restrain the kid after the video stopped playing. Felix had practically launched himself at Akande after the reality had sunk in, spitting threats and curses at her._

_Bishop hurriedly agreed to her follow-up request, more concerned with wrestling Felix back into the elevator than discussing details or figuring out options. The last thing they needed was Felix murdering the Adjutant in her office and having to fight their way out past dozens of heavily armed and armored Halcyon militants. Being killed or thrown into Tartarus with that nut-job Welles was not really high on the captain’s to-do list._

_Once they were in the elevator, doors safely shutting the Adjutant away from Felix’s fury, Max turned on him. “That was awful, Captain. You can’t really be thinking about helping her. You’d be sacrificing thousands of lives.” Felix just scowled, crossing his arms and staring at floor with a petulant expression._

_“I haven’t decided yet. And we have other things to do right now.”_

_“What… you’re not going to jump through your little hoops for the Board like a good little sprat?”_

_“Felix!” Max was horrified. He’d never gotten along with the kid to begin with, and this just cemented what he already thought about him. “Don’t you dare…”_

_“Don’t dare WHAT? Voice my opinion? Have morals?”_

_The fury that crossed the Vicar’s face equaled the one Felix still wore. Bishop stepped in between them. “Enough! We’re not dealing with this now. Both of you… straight to your quarters once we’re on board. Not. Another. Word. We’ll all sit down and talk about it later with ALL of us.”_

_Felix fell back into sullen silence, pointedly not looking at either of them._

______________

They never did get around to talking about it, Bishop realized. He’d been too tight-lipped about his own indecision, and it didn’t help when Felix got up and left the room every time he came in. He overheard Nyoka telling the kid once that he was being a brat and if he was that unhappy, to just pack his shit and go do something else _somewhere_ else. He’d heard Felix and Max yelling at each other another time, but he was already half out the door with Ellie and Parvati, figuring it was just another of their childish spats and they’d work it out.

They didn’t do that either.

And now, it was way too late for words.

**Author's Note:**

> This story came about because of a weird random game glitch during a Board playthrough. My captain had just had a nasty (and heart-wrenching) argument with Felix about siding with the Board, they got back on the ship, and just as the new screen was loading, there was the sound of a gunshot. So this is where my head went. 
> 
> This is a hard story to write because I actually really adore Felix. He's so goofy and sweet and adorable, but sometimes story happens.


End file.
